Improved fruit-jar



1. JOHNSON.

FruitA Jar. A

Patented Mar-Ch 13,1366.

@Wm @Jim N. versus, nmmnmpw, wnmngm. n. c

" UNITED STATES JOSEE JOHNSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED FRUIT-JAR.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 53,151, dated March 13, 1866.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, JOsEE JOHNSON, of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gans for Breserving Fruit, dto.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to means of promoting the facility with which the can may be opened, and to making the can more compact or more easily stowed when large numbers of cans are to be packed together.

I will first proceed to describe what I consider the best mode of carrying out my invention, and will afterward point out the features claimed as new therein.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

Figure l is a central vertical section of my can with the cover firmly confined thereon. Fig. 2 is a top view. Fig. 3 is a section corresponding to Fig. 1, with the cover in the act of being removed.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures.

I use the term can77 to apply to all the several varieties of material, whether tinned iron or other metal, pottery-ware, glass, or other suitable material.

A is a can or jar of earthenware having an internal ledge or lip, a, on which the cover or the soft packing under the cover is to be firmly pressed to form the air-tight joint.

B B are rectangular holes -through the sides of the neck opposite to each other and located as represented relatively to the lip a. These holes B may be easily cut before the material is baked, either by hand or by any suitable machinery.

O is a cross-bar, which may be malleable cast-iron painted, or any other suitable material having sufficient strength.

D is a screw tapped through the center of the cross-bar (l. The ends of the cross-bar O are beveled or made wedge-like, as represented, and the length of the, bar is such that it can be easilyinserted and removed when the screw D is sufficiently slackened. The position of the cross-bar when being inserted or removed is indicated in red outlines in Fig. l.

The cover E, of stoneware or any suitable material, is provided with a rubber ring, c, adapted to be compressed on the lip a with great force when the screw D is turned dow-n. The screw D is in this position entirely sunk, or its top is below the upper edge of the mouth of thejar; consequently any number of these jars may be packed one upon another without risk of injury to the screwsorwithoutany disturbance to the stowage arising from any projections.

When the can is to be opened the screw D is slackened, the cross-bar C slipped endwise sufficiently to free one end, the free end raised, and the entire bar removed. The same bar or any other suitable device may now be introduced through one of the openings B, and its end insinuated beneath the rubber packing e, or beneath the shoulder Ef, above it, as may be preferred. N ow, by pressing down on the free end of the bar G while in this position, or by similarly operating any other simple device used in lieu thereof, a powerful leverage will be exerted to lif't the cover E and detach it-from its seat on the internal lip, a. After one side has been thus loosened the Operation may be repeated on the opposite side by introducing the bar O or other lever through the opposite hole B. When the cover is entirely loose the bar O or other lever may be thrust in farther and the cover lifted sufficiently to allow it to be easily removed inthe ordinary manner.

Recesses or projections, or both, may be produced on the upper surface of the cover, to afford a more convenient grasp for the fingers and thumb in removing it after it is loosened. I am aware that many devices involving the use of cross-bars for confining covers have been before proposed in connection With self- A sealing cans; but the expense of' someand the ineiciency of others have tended to retard the general adopt-ion of this modevof preserving food. My cross-bar C and screw D may be produced very cheaply by machinery, and the expense of my can is very small. i It will be obvious that the can may be used repeatedly, and that there is nothing in the cross-bar, screw, or can which is liable to be easily bent or deranged,while the screw has a sufficient range of travel to adapt it to great variations in the thickness Of the packing e.

I can make separate holes at right angles or otherwise conveniently located, if preferred, so that one hole shall serve one part of the use of my holes B and another hole the other part of said use 5 but I prefer to let the holes B perform the double function, as represented rst, of receiving and holding the cross-bar G l can be made tolerably efficient. The same applies where the pryin g-holes are separate from theA holding-down holes. One pryinghole made at the low level will, in such case, sut' ce. I prefer, however, the two holes, as represented.

Having now fully described my invention,

, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

l. Sinking the conining-screw within and below the mouth ot a self-sealing can, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. The employment of one or more apertures in the side, arranged as represented relatively to the surface ou which the cover rests, to allow the loosening of the cover, substand tially in the manner and for the purposeherein set forth.

3. The construction and arrangement of the openings B B in opposite sides of the neck of the can, and so arranged as to perform the double function of receiving and connin g the ends of the cross-bar when .the cover is held down, and admitting of the action of the same or a different bar to overcome the adhesion of the cover in removing it, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

Josnn JOHNSON.

Titnesses THOMAs D. STE'rsoN, D. L. FREEBORN. 

